It was 50 degrees warmer yesterday in Stroudsburg — that just shows how cold weather in the Poconos is today.

Meteorologists have been warning of historically low temperatures for several days now, and the weather has not disappointed.

"It's just an incredible change in weather, about as drastic as we ever see," Pocono weather watcher Ben Gelber said.

Cold weather is striking the country as the result of an arctic air mass that has slipped south into the central United States.

Locally, a wind chill advisory has been issued through Wednesday. That means the danger of a 25-below wind chill isn't expected to subside until Thursday morning.

Gelber is calling for actual temperatures today to stay around 5 degrees in Stroudsburg, and 0 in the mountain area. But the wind chill will make it feel as if it's well below zero for much of the day.

"We're going to have winds around 20 mph, with gusts up to 30 or 40 mph," Gelber said. "Wind chill will be 25 to 30 degrees below zero, which is the full effect."

Gelber said tonight's weather will be "brutal," with temperatures hovering around 20 below with wind chill.

The rest of the week offers slightly better conditions, however.

Average temperatures are expected to remain below freezing, slowly rising through the rest of the week. Wednesday morning's forecast calls for temperatures between 15 and 20 degrees. Thursday's will be 25 to 30.

The area won't be alone in its plight. Gelber said temperatures are below average across North America because of the "arctic vortex." Cities like Madison, Wis.; Indianapolis, Ind.; and Chicago saw temperatures of -12 at 4 p.m. Monday.